Secrets Revealed
by LilyLovesHG
Summary: Katniss Everdeen is a 27 years old lawyer. One day when she comes home from work, unfortunately she is attacked. Accidentally that day, the police officer Peeta Mellark has a patrol in that area. Their paths cross. However, maybe what happened to Katniss wasn't a coincidence? Will they discover the truth together? Modern Day AU.


**_A/N_: Hi! This is my new Hunger Games fanfiction! Lately, I couldn't get out lawyer!Katniss and policeman!Peeta from my head, so I decided to write it and publish it. I hope that you will like it! Please review :) Ohhh! And to my new readers - I'm from Poland and I don't have a beta so this story can have grammar mistakes. If you find one, let me know :) **

**_Summary_: **_Katniss Everdeen is a 27 years old lawyer. One day when she comes home from work, unfortunately she is attacked. Accidentally that day, police officer Peeta Mellark has a patrol in that area. Their paths cross. However, maybe what happened to Katniss wasn't a coincidence? Will they discover the truth together?_

**Chapter 1**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I yawn and turn off my alarm. Clock shows it's 6:00 am. Today it's Monday and I have a trial. Plaintiff, my client ( shop owner with electronics ) is accusing one customer of stealing a TV. Case is easy, because we have recording from the cameras, which confirm guilt of the accused.

I get up and go to bathroom. Then I shower and I brush my teeth. The weather is sunny, because it's June. In New York more and more people go to the parks, when it's warm. I like summer very much.

When my morning tasks are finished I dress up in my work suit. It's grey dress with silver belt. It is reaching to my knees. Also I dress in black, casual jacket and silver high pumps. I have to look appropriate.

I work in a law firm, because I'm a lawyer. My law firm is situated in the center of New York. I work there for about 3 years. I'm 27 and I have a sister. Her name is Prim. She's 23 and she is a doctor in one of New York hospitals. I love her very much. Since my father's death I become a person who feed the family and work to pay the bills. My father died in a car crash. Driver of the car who hit him ran from place of the accident. Police never find out who it was.

My friend Johanna also works with me. Sometimes she is painfully honest. My childhood best friend , Gale is a director of our law firm. He married Madge Undersee , two years ago. I was the maid of honor at their wedding. Now, Madge is pregnant and they are very happy. I hope the baby will be healthy.

I'm pull out from my thoughts by ringing of my phone. I see that it's Prim.

"Hello?"

"Hi Kat! Can we meet today after work? I want to see you, because, um, Rory proposed to me!" She squeals.

"Prim! Congratulations! I'm very happy for you! When the wedding will take place?" I ask.

Rory and Prim have been dating since high school. Everyone could see that they will end up together. Rory Hawthorne is Gale's younger brother. He loves Prim very much and I'm not worried about that he will hurt her.

"I think the wedding will be in the next year, probably in summer." She pauses and takes a deep breath. " Will you be my maid of honor , Katniss?"

_Oh. My. God._

"Of course, Little Duck!" I answer.

"You know, after the wedding, I won't be Little Duck, right?"

It dawns on me. Prim is a grown woman. I got used to take care of her. I hope that we will meet regularly and she won't forget about her older sister.

If she knows what I'm thinking she says, " Katniss. Listen to me. I will _never _forget about you! You are the best older sister in the world! I love you !"

"I love you too Prim." I look at the clock and see that it's 7:30 am. I can't be late so I say, "Prim, I have to go to the work, okay? Will you come to my office at 16:00 pm and then we will go to café for a cup of coffee?" I offer.

"It's great idea! I will be there! See you soon. I love you, bye!" She hangs up.

I quickly grab keys and lock my apartment. I take a cab and ride to work. New York in the early hours is full of people. Everyone goes to work and traffic is very slow.

I reach my office at 8:02 am. Johanna storms to my room and shouts, "Brainless is here!"

Then Gale, Annie and Thom walks into the room. They doesn't say anything and stand.

"What's up?" I say breaking the silence. They strangely look at me and after few seconds Johanna shouts, "Brainless! Today it's 4th anniversary of our law firm!"

Next three hours we spend celebrating, eating cake and talking. It's eleven so I have to go to the court. I try to silently escape the room but when I'm almost by the door, someone grabs my hand. I turn and see it's Annie. She smiles and says, "Katniss where are you going?"

"I'm going to the court. You remember this case with TVs? Today it's trial."

Her smile drops and she sighs. "Oh… Good luck."

I smile at her sadly and exit. I am friends with her since high school. She also went to law school. She's very kind and shy. Because of her past, she rarely trusts people. Her brother was killed in front of her by a psychopath.

* * *

Trial goes easily , like I supposed. Thief of course was find guilty and he must pay for the TV and work socially for 10 months. I think judgment is fair. Judge Paylor is one of most experienced people in this profession.

I return to our law firm and go to Gale's office. I have to tell him about how went the trial, because he's my boss.

I knock on his door and he shouts, "Come in!"

He is sitting and working on his laptop. He looks up and smile.

"Hi Katniss. How went the trial?" he asks. I notice that he has little disheveled hair and bags under his eyes.

"Great. I won." I pause and sigh. "Did you stay at night today like yesterday? I know that you have to work because of Madge but you can't work that hard. She needs you. Especially _now _, because she needs you healthy and rest to help her with pregnancy ."

He sighs. "Okay, I won't do that again."

"You know, you always can ask me for help, okay? Remember, I'm not only your employee but I'm also your friend."

He smiles and gestures to me to walk to him. "I have new case for you, Katniss. It's about parental rights. You will represent the mother. She took a divorce two years ago but know, father of children wants them only for him. She accused him of abuse. It's very serious case."

"Okay, I will do everything I can. When she comes for a meeting?" I ask.

"I think she will be here soon. She said that she can come at 14:00 pm."

I turn and see that it's 13:58 pm.

"If so I have to return to my office, okay?"

"Yes, it's okay. See you soon Kat."

I enter the room and see a woman. Probably she is my client. She has a blond hair. She is wearing purple blouse with grey jacket and jeans. She looks like she's about 30.I can tell that she was running, because she is breathing heavily. I gesture to her to sit down.

I walk to my desk and sit on a chair. I browse through these documents, which Gale gave me.

"Hi, I'm Maysilee Donner. I had an arranged meeting with a lawyer for today." She says and smiles kindly at me.

"I'm Katniss Everdeen and I will be leading your case Ms. Donner."

"Oh great! Can we start?" She asks.

I nod. " I did small research about your case. It's about parental rights?"

"Yes, yes. My ex-husband Romulus Thread abused me and my children, Katie and Bran. I asked for a divorce. In beginning he was annoyed but one month later when I moved out , he agreed. In the court , unfortunately no one believed me , because he is famous scientist." She stops and takes a deep breath before continuing. I can tell she is on the edge of crying. "He abused us, really! I can't allow him to take away my children! Please Miss, help me!" She can't hold any longer and she breaks down sobbing.

"Okay, Ms. Dormer please calm down. I will do everything I can to help you but now, crying won't help your children."

She takes few deep breaths and calms down. "How can we prove that he abused me and my children?" She asks.

"I have few ideas but now, I have to ask you some questions, okay?" She nods and I continue. "Do you have some recordings or photos , which proves that your ex-husband abused your family?"

"I have one video but when I show it in the court two years ago, judge said that it doesn't clearly show that my ex-husband is in it." She sighs.

"Can you show me it?" I ask.

"Yes , of course." She pulls out from her bag a pendrive. I connect it to my laptop and play the film. It clearly shows that someone is beating two children. Unfortunately it doesn't show his face. I think that I can prove that it is Romulus Thread. I will contact my friend, Beetee Latier whose specialty is everything connected with electronics. Maybe when he will watch this video in slow motion, he will see face of the man in this recording.

"Can you give me phone number or business card of your ex-husband?" I ask her. She nods and one moment later gives me his card. I look at the clock and it's almost the time for my meeting with Prim.

Ms. Donner stands up and says, "Thank you, Ms. Everdeen. I have to go to pick up my children from school. When we will meet again to discuss plan for this case?"

"I will call you Ms. Donner and we will arrange a meeting." I answer her with smile.

"Ok, goodbye." She says and grabs her bag.

"Goodbye." I respond and show her way to exit our law firm.

When she's gone I collapse on my chair. I'm exhausted. It's one of the hardest cases in my life. I go to bathroom and change. I dress up in jeans , green t-shirt and black sneakers. Also I braid my hair.

When I return to office I see Prim sitting on a chair, waiting for me. She is wearing yellow dress with flowers and pink flats. I clear my throat and she immediately turns. She runs to me and tightly hugs me. I think last time we saw each other was like 2 months ago.

"Prim! You look great!" I say and hug her again. "I missed you a lot."

She sighs. "I missed you too. I'm very happy that today we are going out together."

We exit the building and we head to the café. It's called Good Time and we always go there when we want to talk and drink a good coffee. Streets are crowded now, because most people just finished work.

Five minutes later we enter the café. It's not big but it's very popular. We order our coffee. Prim choses to sit by the window.

"Katniss, look!" She says and shows me her ring. It has a gold band and one diamond on it. It's very pretty.

"Oh, I see. It's amazing! Are you happy marrying Rory?" I ask.

"Yes, of course!" She squeals and gives me knowing smile. "I love him."

"How is work?" I change the subject, because she was telling me about it long ago.

"It's great! I have mine consulting room! You know that my last patient had …" and she speaks about it for like half an hour. I listen to her and smile. My sister is happy and that makes me happy too. She will get married soon. I have never wanted kids or marriage. My mother zoned out after father's death. I don't want to be like her. Prim is excited about engagement because she always wanted marriage and big family. She is very friendly and she loves children.

"…and now everything is okay." She finishes her story.

It's getting late so I suggest, "Prim, maybe you will come to my apartment and we will watch films together, because it's getting darker." I gesture to the window and she nods.

"I think it's great idea. Let's go."

We pay for the coffee and we start walking to the cabs. Five minutes later we are riding to my apartment.

When we are near I see that traffic is blocked so me and Prim decide to walk the rest. I see that there was a car accident and police officers are questionings the driver of one car.

I hear a scream. I immediately turn and my blood runs cold.

Masked man with a gun is holding Prim. He holds it pointed to Prim's head. I notice that two police officers are heading here to help. I don't know what to say. I'm terrified. Prim is crying and shaking. People are escaping from the street. I can't believe that it's happening. I take a step closer to Prim. Police officers are holding their guns pointed to the criminal.

I stop dead in my tracks when offender shouts, "Stop! I will kill you both if you will move!" , then he turns to officers and shouts, "Lay down your guns! You hear me?! Lay it down! If you don't, I will kill her!"

They carefully and slowly do what he says. I see that one of them is hiding something behind his back. I hope he will help Prim.

I hear that Prim is sobbing. That breaks my heart. I panic and raise my hands. Before I can think I loudly say, "Take me instead of her, please!" I take a deep breath and say again this time little more certainly. "Take me instead of her. I volunteer!"

I see that the criminal doesn't know what to decide. I silently pray that he will release Prim. I love her so much and I can't live without her. She is my sister. I have to protect her. I _want_ to protect her.

He finally decides and shouts, "Okay but walk here slowly.." I take few steps and he shouts again, " I said slowly!" This time I try to walk more slowly. He roughly grabs my arm and points the gun to my head. I catch my breath. Everything goes in slow motion.

He releases Prim who screams, "Katniss, no! Katniss , please! No!" One of police officers offers to take her and the criminal agrees. He walks to Prim and starts to calm her. Now , she is crying and sobbing very loudly. I see that the criminal is annoyed. Police officer silently tells her something and she stops. He sends her to the police car. I notice that he has brown hair and sea-green eyes. He returns to stand by second officer who has short and curly blond hair and blue eyes.

The criminal, now painfully holds gun to my head I clench my jaw and keep my eyes shut for a moment to keep myself from screaming.

Blond-haired police officer calmly says, "What do you want?"

The offender laughs. "It's obvious. I want money!"

Maybe it's obvious but not for me. The nearest bank isn't on this street. Why he took me as a hostage? It isn't logical. I notice that someone called for more cops. Street is closed but somehow reporters from TV news appeared. Also when I'm observing closely I see that on a roof of one building is sniper.

My heart pounds loudly in my chest. I have never been in such a dangerous situation before.

I'm pull out from my thoughts when officer asks, "How much?"

Offender thinks for a moment. Then he smirks and shouts, "I want 1 million dollars!"

I feel like I will lose my consciousness any time now. No one will pay that much money for a life of plain woman. It is like a punch in the guts. I can only be happy for the fact that Prim is safe. She is strong. She can survive without me.

Officer doesn't say anything. He knows that I have no chance. Odds are certainly not in my favor today. He only looks at me. His eyes are apologetic and sad. He clenches his jaw. Now , I know how hard is to work in police. If I die, he would be blaming himself. I don't _want_ that.

He opens his mouth to say something but then I hear a shot. I froze and my body goes still. When I find my confidence to look up, I see that people are moving around in chaos and shouting but I'm too terrified to pay attention. I turn my head to see that the criminal stares at me.

Then it hits me like ton of bricks. He didn't shoot. Sniper did. Criminal wants revenge and he will hurt _me_.

Before I can process fully my thoughts and react, I hear the second shot. Immediately pain hits me with full force. I collapse on the ground. My vision starts spinning. Far away I hear the third shot and body hitting the ground beside me. I lay and look at the dark sky. I feel darkness trying to surround me. People are screaming. I see on my t-shirt large blood stain. Bullet hit me near my heart. I close my eyes. I heavily and slowly take deep breaths because I feel very dizzy and I have problems with breathing.

I'm back to reality when someone kneels beside me. I see that it's blond-haired police officer. I take next shuddering breath. He looks at my wound and then at my eyes. He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. He clears his throat and starts again. This time successfully.

"Miss? Do you hear me?" I confirm it by closing and opening my eyes one time. I thinks moving or speaking isn't best at the moment. "Please try to stay conscious. An ambulance will be here at any moment."

He gently brushes away the lock of hair from my forehead and he checks if I'm burning. Then he checks my pulse and by his face I can say that it isn't good. He takes my hand and reassuringly squeezes it.

In hoarse voice he pleads, "Please, stay with me. "

I look into his deep blue eyes. I have never seen eyes in that amazing color. I want to respond him but everything starts spinning again. I fight not to close my eyes. Far away I hear a signal of an ambulance. Officer says something to me but I don't understand it. Everything seems so far away.

I see one last time a glimmer of his amazing blue eyes.

After that , the darkness consumes me.

**Like it? Is it worth continuing? Please let me know in review :)**


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